I've recently switched to broadband, using a cheap ethernet modem. It works perfectly using rp-pppoe, but I'd rather not have to type "adsl-start" and "adsl-stop" in a root terminal every time I want to connect/disconnect. I'd like to have desktop or taskbar icon(s) which would run the commands for me without having to log in as root. Okay, so I'm lazy!

I've googled around for a solution, and it seems the best way to go is to use sudo - could anyone walk me through a simple way of going about it? I've read "man sudoers" but glazed over a bit at the Extended Backhaus-Naur Form thing.....

If it would be easier, I'm quite happy with changing permissions on the relevant bits of the program, but I'm not sure what I actually need to change. If anyone has done this, or can just point me in the right direction, I'd be very grateful.

Well, eventually got it sorted. After a bit more in-depth Googling and much faffing about with visudo - why does vi have to be so counterintuitive? - I can now sudo adsl-start as user, and it was easy enough to put a couple of buttons in the KDE taskbar to connect/disconnect.

All I need now is some kind of applet to show I'm connected......... I'll keep Googling, I think. For now I'm content to have learned a little about sudo.

Is the modem an independant unit? If so why do you need to start and stop it? I too have a cheap modem which is always on whether my computer is on or not, it makes no difference to your telephone or anything.